Bridge club members earn high rankings
Members of the St. Augustine Duplicate Bridge Club were listed in the latest edition of the District 9 American Contract Bridge League News publication for having earned a change in their ACBL ranking.

EWLI starts 'making a difference'
The Enterprising Women's Leadership Institute, Inc. hosts the first in a series of six leadership luncheon programs to planned the third Thursday of each month July through December. Purpose of the series is to bring together people interested in civic, community and personal ways to make a difference in their lives.

Palm Coast firemen rising to great heights in training
Palm Coast firefighters climbed a 100-foot ladder up to the city hall roof on a recent sunny Thursday afternoon.There was no fire, there was no smoke. This energetic crew of 23 firefighters was completing a 40-hour State Certified Aerial Operations Course, practicing tactical and operational maneuvers on their brand new 100-foot ladder truck.Offered as part of the Daytona Beach Community College Fire Science curriculum, the operations course is training firefighters on how to safely operate Palm Coast's newest acquisition."The City Fire Department is to be complimented on their proactive efforts," says Chris Loomis, assistant chair for DBCC's fire science program. "Their ability to safely and efficiently utilize their new equipment will help to keep Palm Coast's citizens safe."

Club Notes
Summer barbecue
The St. Augustine Shrine Club will host its summer barbecue from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at the Moultrie Clubhouse.

Sertoma hands out honors
Members of the Sertoma Club of St. Augustine have been busy in recent weeks with a variety of projects.

Go & Do
TODAY
Bingo: Cash bingo is offered from 1 to 4 p.m. each Tuesday at the Coastal Community Center, 180 Marine St., St. Augustine. Progressive games and jackpots are open to the public. Call 823-4810.

NASA, up close and personal
The launch of the space shuttle Atlantis marked Jeannie Lott's first week on the job at the Kennedy Space Center.

Neighbors: Beach commissioners begin budget review
The St. Augustine Beach City Commission meets at 7 p.m. next Monday to begin its FY2008 budget review. The review will include employee health benefits and insurance, employee pay increases, salaries for the police chief and city manager, plus capital outlay requests and other sections of the budget. A tentative millage rate is expected to be set at the meeting as well as a September date for the first public hearing.

News & Notes
The St. Augustine Beach City Commission meets at 7 p.m. next Monday to begin its FY2008 budget review. The review will include employee health benefits and insurance, employee pay increases, salaries for the police chief and city manager, plus capital outlay requests and other sections of the budget. A tentative millage rate is expected to be set at the meeting as well as a September date for the first public hearing.

Celebration to honor life of Joe Eagleson
Joe Eagleson, a musician, former WAOC DJ and community leader will be remembered Sunday during a celebration of his life, held one day before what would have been his 85th birthday.

Bank blood challenge under way
The Blood Alliance-Blood Center of the St. Johns announces the schedule of blood drives for the upcoming 12th Annual Bank Challenge.The challenge began Monday and continues through Aug. 3 at banks throughout St. Johns County. The goal is 150 units of blood during the challenge.

Auxiliary members honored
Flagler Hospital recently honored its volunteers with a special luncheon at the St. Johns County Convention Center at the World Golf Village.

Go & Do
TODAY
Democratic club: The public is invited to attend Dr. Alberto Jones discussion about "The Present and Future Relations between the U.S. and Cuba" during the St. Augustine Democratic Club meeting at 7 p.m. at The St. Augustine Record.

Mixing hair color can be tricky
Q. Is it OK to mix two shades of hair color to get exactly what I want? I'm looking for a warm brown, but judging by the color pictures on the packaging, the browns are either too red or too ashy.

Botulism scare sparks canned meat recall
WASHINGTON -- Millions of cans of chili sauce, corned beef hash and beef stew produced by a Georgia food company are being recalled in the largest botulism scare involving commercially canned goods in more than 30 years.

Study: Diet soda no better than regular
BOSTON -- People who drank more than one diet soda each day developed the same risks for heart disease as those who downed sugary regular soda, a large but inconclusive study found.

U.S., Iran to discuss Iraq war
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- The United States and Iran will hold a second round of direct talks to discuss Iraq's worsening security situation as early as Tuesday, even as U.S. military commanders continue to accuse Iranian operatives of fomenting the instability.

Survey shows decline in teen sex has stalled
WASHINGTON -- The long decline in sexual activity among U.S. teenagers, hailed as one of the nation's most important social and public health successes, appears to have stalled.

Program enriches cell phone companies
Over the past four years, there has been nearly a tenfold increase in government-ordered subsidies paid to a few "competitive" providers -- cellular phone companies paid by the fund to offer service in rural areas where an existing carrier already receives a subsidy.

Stay of execution may be short-lived
ATLANTA -- The stay of execution granted last week to Troy Davis, who was convicted of killing a police officer but insists he is innocent, could be short-lived if history is a guide.

NATIONAL REPORT
Public ceremony planned for Tammy Faye Messner
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- A public ceremony to remember former PTL televangelist Tammy Faye Messner is in the works, with details to follow soon, her son, Jay Bakker, has announced.

Suicide crisis hot line planned for veterans
WASHINGTON -- To ensure veterans with mental health crises have immediate access to trained coordinators, the Department of Veterans Affairs will establish a 24-hour, national suicide prevention hot line.

Georgia woman sues 'Girls Gone Wild'
COLUMBUS, Ga. -- A woman has sued the creators of the "Girls Gone Wild" video series in Florida, alleging they used her image as a 16-year-old to promote and sell their sexually charged products.

Road Construction
The following roads in St. Johns County will be under construction this week:

Proposed homeless shelter in doubt
With St. Johns County Commission proposing to lower funding for social services, a local leader of the Salvation Army worries that the county will not help fund and support fa possible homeless shelter.

Prosecutor describes 'perfect storm' of violence
James Daniel Turner begged officers to shoot him after the fury of his "perfect storm" killed one woman while injuring and terrifying another two years ago at a St. Augustine motel, the prosecutor said in her opening statement Monday.

Nole-in-One at Gator tourney
You could tell something was up when screams and cheers echoed from the 15th hole on the Marsh Creek Golf Course, during the Gator Club's annual golf tournament on Monday.

Correction
Wrong date -- Due to an editing error the date was incorrect in Betty Peyton's World Golf Village column Sunday regarding the visit of Mike Arbuthnot at the Davidson's new office building. He will be there at 7 p.m. Aug. 21, sharing his experiences about the filming and being aboard the Titanic.

Northrop Grumman gets Navy contract
Northrop Grumman will build its newest aircraft carrier-based surveillance plane, the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye, at its St. Augustine plant, thanks to a $408 million pilot production contract from the U.S. Navy.

City settles lawsuit
The St. Augustine City Commission agreed Monday to a settlement of $650,000 for perceived violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Police Report: Lightning strike sparks house fire
Lightning strike sparks house fire: A home on SilverGlen Avenue, in the area of State Road 16 West, was struck by lightning late Saturday and caught fire, said Jeremy Robshaw, St. Johns County Fire Rescue spokesman.

Commissioners: Pro-troop flag not needed
The St. Augustine City Commission decided Monday it does not need to fly a special flag to support troops in Iraq because the American flag already does the job.

Bed tax hike proposed
St. Johns County officials -- perhaps figuring that the best tax is one their constituents won't have to pay -- will explore raising the county's current bed tax from 3 percent to 5 percent next year.

Jasper Melvin Carter
Jasper Melvin Carter, 69, of Jacksonville, Fla., passed away July 20, 2007 at . He was born Feb. 18, 1938 in Leesburg, N.C., the son of Melvin R. Carter and Emma Hamlett Carter. He worked with Ring power Corp. for 33 years as an equipment inspector. A wonderful and caring family man, Melvin was generous, witty, and always willing to help others.

Daniel Michael Walsh
Daniel Michael Walsh, 49, of St. Augustine, died July 20, 2007, in St. Augustine. A native of Kearny, N.J., he was a client at the St. Johns County ARC. He was of the Roman Catholic faith.

Mary Alice Thigpen Wishard
Mary Alice Thigpen Wishard, 56, of St. Augustine, died July 21, 2007, at Flagler Hospital. She was office manager for Lopez Plumbing and was member of the Cathedral-Basilica. She was a lifelong resident of St. Augustine.

Goodman: Justice for the Jena Six
Last week in Detroit, the NAACP held a mock funeral for the N-word. But a chilling case in Louisiana shows us how far we have to go to bury racism. This story begins in the small, central Louisiana town of Jena. Last September, a black high-school student requested the school's permission to sit beneath a broad, leafy tree in the hot schoolyard. Until then, only white students sat there.

Letter: 'Adult zone' has no place in St. Augustine
Editor: The need for an "Adult Zone" exists in the minds of the St. Augustine City Commissioners only.
First of all there is nothing "adult" about an "adult zone." None of the adults I know would ever go to such a place for any reason.

Krauthammer: 'American vision' changing Iraq
Amid the Senate's all-night pillow fight and other Iraq grandstanding, real things are happening on the ground in Iraq. They consist of more than just a surge of U.S. troop levels. Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker have engaged us in a far-reaching and fundamental political shift. Call it the 20 percent solution.

Editorial: Yellow flag revisited
The St. Augustine City Commission took the right step Monday by deciding not to fly a privately designed "Support Our Troops" flag on city flagpoles. The commission wisely said that Old Glory sends that message in red, white and blue.

Couler: The 'bumper sticker' that blows up
For six years, the Bush administration has kept America safe from another terrorist attack, allowing the Democrats to claim that the war on terrorism is a fraud, a "bumper sticker," a sneaky ploy by a power-mad president to create an apocryphal enemy so he could spy on innocent librarians in Wisconsin. And that's the view of the moderate Democrats. The rest of them think Bush was behind the 9/11 attacks.

Cards finish off Braves in 10th
ATLANTA -- Skip Schumaker hit a two-run home run and Scott Rolen added a three-run homer in the 10th inning to give the St. Louis Cardinals a 7-2 win over the Atlanta Braves on Sunday night.

Yankees embarrass Tampa Bay
NEW YORK -- Shelley Duncan homered twice, including a three-run drive that capped a 10-run fourth inning Sunday in the surging New York Yankees' 21-4 rout of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

Coolbaugh was star on, off baseball field
SAN ANTONIO -- Mike Coolbaugh became a coach with the Tulsa Drillers earlier this month not so much for the job itself, but because his little boys loved to see him on the baseball field.

Harrington survives the calamity of Carnoustie
CARNOUSTIE, Scotland -- Padraig Harrington finally learned the lesson of Carnoustie, surviving a calamitous finish in regulation and a tense putt for bogey on the final hole of a playoff to win the British Open on Sunday.

Ganassi riding high after consecutive wins
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- In the 17 years since Chip Ganassi formed his first race team, his passion for the sport has never wavered -- not during the lean years of open wheel, his struggles after expanding to NASCAR, or even the death of a driver.

No 3-peat for Tiger at the British Open.
CARNOUSTIE, Scotland -- As he strolled down the 18th fairway on the final day of the British Open, Tiger Woods doffed his hat to the cheering crowd and flashed that world-famous smile.

AL Capsules
CLEVELAND (AP) - Jon Lester, whose rookie season ended suddenly when he was diagnosed with cancer, pitched six innings to win his first game in 11 months, leading Boston to a 6-2 victory over Cleveland on Monday night.

Virginia Tech picked to win ACC title
PINEHURST, N.C. (AP) - After a strong run that fell a little short of the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game, Virginia Tech looks ready to get back there once again.

Environmental groups opposed to sale of cypress mulch
MELBOURNE -- Cypress mulch is loved by gardeners for its weed-blocking powers, but environmentalists are urging consumers not to buy it because they believe cypress trees are more beneficial as natural barriers for hurricane storm surge and filters of polluted stormwater runoff.

Police sting nets youth hockey coach
BARTOW -- Twenty-five men were arrested and charged with soliciting sex from a minor over the Internet during a four-day undercover operation, the Polk County Sheriff's Office said Monday.

More mobile home owners without insurance
ST. PETERSBURG -- More than half of Florida's 800,000 mobile homes are no longer covered by homeowner's insurance -- another sign of the state's soaring insurance costs.

Couple awarded $21 million in 'wrongful birth' case
TAMPA -- In what is being called a "wrongful birth" case, a jury awarded more than $21 million Monday to a Gainesville couple who claimed that a misdiagnosis of their first child by a doctor allowed them to have a second child with similar severe birth defects.

Study: Florida has low turnout of young voters
FORT LAUDERDALE -- Turnout of young Florida voters was among the worst in the nation last year -- bucking a national trend that shows that 18- to 29-year-olds are taking an increased interest in voting, a recent study shows.

Animal Control: Feral cat trapping rate up again
The number of feral cats St. Johns County Animal Control is trapping daily is comparable to that of this time last year, which means that the Pet Center is dealing with an average of eight new homeless cats per day taken from as many as 25 traps.

At least 17 die in Baghdad blasts
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- A string of car bomb attacks left at least 17 people dead in Baghdad on Monday, many of them civilians killed by three blasts in one of the city's busiest neighborhoods. Police said 21 people died in other violent incidents across the country.

Heavy rain floods Britain
TEWKESBURY, England -- Emergency workers rescued hundreds of trapped people Monday as water swallowed swaths of central England in the worst flooding to hit the country for 60 years. Officials said some rivers were still rising, with the western section of the rain-swollen River Thames on the verge of bursting its banks.

WORLD REPORT
Turkish voters stick with centrist Islamic part
ISTANBUL -- Voters on Sunday overwhelmingly returned to power a political party that brought a mix of mild Islam and intense economic development to governing Turkey, rebuking the secular military whose challenge led to the early election.

Park rangers battle to save gorillas
VIRUNGA NATIONAL PARK, Congo -- They heard the gunshots around 3 p.m., at least two pops that echoed across the green mountains of this vast park tangled up in vines, fallen trees and years of war.

Brazil plane crash highlights several regional problems
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil -- When Lygia Horta first moved to her neighborhood in the city of Sao Paulo more than five decades ago, the roads were still unpaved, water came from local wells and nearby Congonhas airport served only sporadic flights by a now-defunct airline.